Transom draft-gear.



E P KINNE. TRANSOM DRAFT GEAR. APPLICATION FILED APB: 15, 1907.

Patented July 6, 1909. ZBHBETB-BHBET 1.

E. P. KINNE.

TRANSOM DRAFT GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 16, 1907.

Patented July 6, 1909.

2 SHEETS-411331 2.

, L www UNITED sTAtrps P TENT OFFICE.

EDMUND P. KINNE, OI" ALLIANCE, OI-lIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS.TO AMERI(AN STEEL FOUNDRIES, 01 NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

TRANSOM DBAFTQGEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6, 1909.

Application filed April 15, 1907. Serial No. 368,395.

" ()hio, have invented certain new and useful Im roveinents in TransomDraft-Gear, of

. which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the draft mechanism of railway cars, its objectand purpose being to provide a draft means Which may be bolted orotherwise secured to the side or outer face of the body bolster, andwhich may be readily removed or detached when occasion demands it. Aconstruction of this character allows the shocks due to bu thug andpulling to be comparativelyevenly distributed throughout the carunderframe and is not imposed solely or largely upon the center sills. Adraft frame is bolted to the front or outer face of the bolster, thebolts passing through. the bolster itself and also through a back ortail piece lying against the back face of the bolster opposite the endof the draft frame. In this manner a rigid and secure connection is madewith the body bolster of, the car. Near its forward end this draft framehas an abutment or stop against the opposite faces of which abut theends of coil draft springs. Adraft beam is provided, to the front end.of which the coupler is secured and to its'rear end is fastened a yoke,the draft springs being interposed between the end of the draft beam,the yoke, and the abutment or stop of, the draft frame. A draftmechanism of this type niay be readily attached to any of -the'usualstyles of bolsters Without change. and in case of damage it can beremoved i replaced with facility.

On the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification Ihave illustrated the preferred embodiment of my invcntion.

-Eigurc 1 is a plan view of the draft gear showing the same attached toa body bolster; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of thestructure shown in Fig. 1,; and Fig. 3 is an end view of the draft frameillustrating the same fastened to the front face of the bolster.

The body bolster of the car may be of any standard or convenient shapeor style, and

in the present instance I have illustrated one,

each side of which is composed of two overlapping angle bars-10 and f.Atop and bottom plate 12 and 13, respectively, cover the upper and lowerfaces of the body bol ster and act as tension and compression members.

My improved draft rigging includes a draft frame, designated as a whole14, comprising a horizontal to i plate member 15 with ears 15 adapted toe fastened to thecar sills and a similar bottom plate 16, the inner endsof which are joined and connected by well 17,

the external surface of which is shaped to conform to the contour of theside of the body bolster at that part Where the draft frame isboltcd'thcreto. At its front end this draft frame has a vertical,hollow, abutment Wall 18 connecting the top and bottom '7 plates 15 and16, a pair or more of webs l9 connecting and strengthening the two outside portions of the wall. As is customary, the bolster is equipped withthe kingpin bearing 20 which acts also to space the sides 7 5 of thebolster apart, and on the rear side of the bolster opposite the end ofthe draft frame I provide a back or tail piece 2ilshaped to conform tothe back side of the bolster and overlappim the edges of plates 12 and13. 8

A pair of bdlts 22 afford convenient means for securely fasteningtogether the draft frame, bolster, and tail piece so that a riq'id andstrong connection is secured. It wil be noticed that the tail pieceassists in strcngthcn- 8 ing the connection with the bolster and alsoacts to distribu'u the strain more uniformly upon the bolster. In thetop plate 23 which is riveted or bolted to the top of the bolster,

and to the top of the draft frame I provide an additional means forsecuring an cll'ccti'vc connection between the bolster and the draftrigging. It should be noticed that back of the abutment wall 18 theupper and lower horizontal plates 15 and 16 are equipped with shoulders24 and 25, and that the p are 16 extends some little distance forwardlybeyond the cndof plate 15, its upper surface having a shoulder 26immediately below the end of plate 15. lower part of this dra ft frame,which is cast in one piece, there is supplied ulong thc lower surface of)late 16 one or more strengthening ribs 27. "he remainder of the draftrigging includes a hollow draft bcam 28 to the front end of which isfastened in any convenient or desirable manner the shank of a couplerZQ.This draft bcainis preferably cast in. one piece and includes the topand bottom Walls 30 and 31 and the diverging vertical walls Us In orderto strcnglhcn the I through holes in the yoke legs.

and 33. Atits inner end this draft beam is considerably wider and oneach side has a pair of laterally extended apertured ears 34L.

It will be apparent from an ins motion of Fig. 2 that the draft beam isconsiderably reduced in the -vertieal section between the coupler endand the inner end, and that the latter end is strengthened and firmlyheld in position by a pair olbraces 35 on the top and oottom. a pair ofspring seats or pockets 36, and to the ears 3% on opposite sides of thedraft mechanism are fastened the legs 37 of a yoke 38 by means of pinsor bolts 39 passing through the apertures of ears 34 and also The crosspiece 38 of the yoke passes between the abutment wall 18 and the innerend Wall 17 of the draft frame, as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Tostrengthen the cross part of the yoke it has on its outer face a numberof ribs 39 integral therewith. The inner face or surface of the crossmember of the yoke has a pair of spring seats, the walls 40 of which areadapted to cooperate with the stops 24 and 25 to limit the outwardtravel of the yoke, while the Walls of the spring pockets 36 co-act withthe'end of the top plate or wall 15 and the shoulder 26 to limit andrestrict the inward travel of the draft beam. interposed between thedraft beam and the abutment wall 18, and also between the yoke and theabutment or stop wall are four pairs of inner and outer compressiondraft springs 41', 42, 43 and 44. in order to reduce the weight of thestructure to some extent without a sacrifice of strength the casting mayhave the openings 4-5, 46 and 4-7, but of course their presenceorabsence in no way affects the value of my invention.

When the coupler shank is pulled forwardly the draft beam 28 and theattached yoke travel in the same direction compressing the rear or backsprings 43 arid 4i and through iltits inner end this draft beam has i 1l 1 l l l r l l i i l a l 1 r i l l l l l 1 and 26 and the end of thohori'lzont'al top wall 15 of the draft frame. in case the draft riggingbecomes damaged or injured and it is advisable to detach or remove thesame this can be quickly and readily accomplished by taking oil the nutsor bolts 22 and cutting; the rivets or unfastenino' the bolts whichsocure the draft frame to the top or cover plate 23 and to the earsills.

To those skilled in this art it will be apparent that numerous minormechai'iical changes may be made in the structure shown and described.Without departure from the substance of my invention or sa'crilice of its benefits.

I claim:

in a railway car, the combination oi a bolster, a single-piece draftiranie having horizontal top and bottom walls, an inner end wall joiningsaid top and bottom walls, and shaped to conform to the front face ofsaid bolster and an outer abutment wall also joining said top and bottomwalls, means to fasten said inner end wall to the front fare of said.bolster, a draft beam, a spring interposed between said draft beam andabutm'ent a yoke fastened to said draft beam, and a spring between saidyoke and the opposite side of said abutment, substantially as described.

EDMUND l. lilNNlt. Witnesses:

WALTER M. FULLER, nARLEs F. MURRA Y.

